A Thief's Tale
by DaKage
Summary: Two thousand years ago something terrible happened. Something so bad the god themselves had to restart the physical plane, only this time without magic. Follow three brave adventures as they re-discover the lost art of magic.
1. Chapter 0: Background

**A/N:**As this is somewhat of a 'custom' Dungeons and Dragons universe I wanted to get some things out of the way. A few of those things include character Biographies and the general background of this world. So here it goes.

**Chapter 00: Background of Ner'mern**

Ner'mern, the greatest empire to ever rise in the history of man, elf, or dwarf. Stretching from the Bitterfrost Plains in the north to the Infinite Range almost a thousand leagues to the south. From the great Rolling Desert in the west to the Bloody Coast the kingdom itself encompassed the a large portion of the known world.

Long before Ner'mern was ever born however a great cataclysm enveloped the world. One which would shape the next twelve centuries of life, the loss of all magic. No one knows how it was lost, only that one moment it was there and the next it was gone. No reason was ever given, the greatest wizards and Sorcerers of the time became baffled.

After the loss a great dark age enveloped the world. Much was lost to diseases and work that had once been easily done through the aid of magic. Magic had grown so apart of everyday life for most that without it the world spun into chaos.

As simple diseases made a comeback the magics that defended against them weren't there. Millions died overnight from simple colds. The dependence on magic became evident as even the most battle hardened wizard died from something intangible.

As the world quickly slipped into despair magic was all but forgotten, something so useless had no place in this new society. A small town was set up and named it after the last great wizard of the time , Ner'mern. It was ordinary, or seemed to be when it was created.

For the next twelve centuries society slowly began to rebuild itself, however this time without the aid of magic. As Ner'mern thrived the rest of the world moved along at a snails pace.

Around two hundred years ago a population explosion occurred in Ner'mern with the discovery of a gold mine in the area. Soon people were coming in droves to the small port town, built on the shores of the now named Bloody Coast.

Ner'mern became a haven for many and around fifty years ago was established as the capital of the now named Ner'mern Empire.

**A/N:**

So for the time being this is all you'll get. I don't want to expose to much from the get go, or that'd ruin the surprises... yes many surprises.


	2. Chapter1:Bar Wenches and Rats

A/N: So here's chapter one, officially. This one will be short just so I can feel out my writing style and such things. Things will be revealed in time so if you get totally lost… well expect to stay that way for at least a little while. I expect to try and update at least every two weeks if not weekly. It's really hard to tell holding down a full time job and going to school.

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Darkness, that was all there was anymore, darkness. The incorporeal being tried to pick up a book, failing once more. Two thousand years he had been stuck down here,. At first it hadn't been so bad, he was able to go through all of his old memories and replay certain ones. After about a week that had gotten boring. So for the next thousand years he had tried to pick things up. Well that was a fantastic failure as he couldn't use magic anymore.

Silently fuming about stupid apprentices and stupid gods and even stupider friends the ghost of a one Morrolan 'sat' down in a chair. He looked over at the window. Yup, still encased in dirt. Sighing he got up and floated around the library he was trapped in. No one had found this place yet and he was bored. When Morrolan got bored bad things tended to happen, like people dying or god dragons being unleashed.

_Oh yes let's do that again_. Morrolan Thought to himself

As he floated down a seemingly random hallway a single book near the end suddenly flew off it's shelf and flew off. Morrolan paled, well paled as much as a ghost can, and flew after the book. The book came to rest on a table near the heart of the grand library, it's cover glowing an eerie black and blue. After a second the pages flew open and a deep rumbling voice filled the room.

"**You have one year sorcerer, then I'll be free again and you'll all feel the wrath of Nalshinlam, THE ONE TRUE GOD!"**

Morrolan sank down into a chair, his right hand came to his head and he rubbed his temples.

"Great… the world's going to end in four hundred and eighty two days."

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Damien was an enigma. His lithe five foot nine eight inch height made him seem weak and possibly a scribe or some such thing. However, even with the cloak of wonder about him, he had his only little following of women. His long dirty blonde hair and striking blue eyes often caught women off guard. More than once he had watched with an amused smirk as a bar maid fumbled his drink as she got a good look at him. He always wore the same thing, just in case he would often say. Solid black leather armor that hugged his body and let him move about easily. A thin black cloak that went form shoulder to ankle and even had a hood. It was perfect for his profession, that of a rouge. However his personality left something to be desired, unless in good company he was, for all intents and purposes, a mute. He rarely talked unless spoken to and more often than not he only said a couple words, so you could see why people often ignored him. However he did have a few good friends.

So as Damien sat in the corner of the White Breasted Stallion Bar and Inn he wasn't surprised when a rather well endowed bar maid came to take his drink order. Melina, something of a friend he mused. She was nice, caring, never lost her temper, and almost loyal to a fault for the friends she had. Sparkling green eyes and a mixture of black and brown gave many the impression she might be half or even a quarter elf. Standing only five foot four though she was a small girl. With a rather large chest and curvy hips she was someone who Damien frequently caught himself watching.

He smiled a bit to himself, she was very attractive that was for sure. Years of working a wharf side bar had let her become graceful and well toned. She wasn't a fighter or a thief or even an acrobat. No she was simply someone who's job had let them get a good work out and it showed.

"What'll be for ya Damien?"

The voice was soft, sweet, almost innocent. However, behind it Damien's keen senses picked up the nervousness. He smirked a bit to himself and lowered his head in mock concentration, letting his messy blonde hair hide his face. The maid seemed to frown at losing sight of the young man's face and huffed softly.

"Red wine please."

Came the soft voice Damien reserved for these occasions when politeness was needed.

The girl seemed satisfied and walked off to fill the order. Since it was the middle of the high months this particular bar was rather lacking in customers. As a matter of fact it would be for quite some time. Damien was here merely to wait. After all that was his job for the pair. He would gather information about their targets and Kyte would plow them down, taking the head to ensure fair payment. Thus was born the bounty hunting pair Kyte and Damien. His attention was quickly pulled back to current times as Melina approached.

As she sat the drink down in front of the blonde haired teen she couldn't help but blush slightly at the once over he gave her body.

Damien could only smile at the girl before him. She couldn't have been more than eighteen, maybe not even that, he had never found out her age. Then again he was only nineteen himself.

As he took a sip from the goblet before him he closed his eyes and sighed contently, nothing hit the spot like a good red wine, and the White Breasted Stallion was famous for their red wine.

'Such luxuries can't last for long though…' He thought to himself before setting the steel container down. He let his eyes open and drift to the girl who was focused entirely on him. He never knew why but he always had this affect on the fairer sex, as much as Kyte did. Some said they both had a certain 'charisma' about them. Damien always shot down such thoughts. He was not one to admit he was good looking.

"Can I get you anything else tonight?"

Her voice dripped with something incorporeal, maybe it was lust? No it wasn't that, Damien could always tell when people were trying to get him in bed for a quick night of passion. Of course he wasn't the kind to follow that line of thought, he had an image to maintain after all. It was maybe… no couldn't be.

"No I think this will do quite nicely Melina. However…"

She seemed to be hanging on that last word.

"… I would greatly appreciate some company if you think it could be spared."

Oh yes, come, play in the strings, let the puppet master do his work. No one would suspect the handsome young man with the lusty bar wench to actually be their worst enemy. Or maybe they would, and he'd be found out sooner than later. There were those out there that could beat his skills in deception and manipulation. However, few lived near the wharfs, and came into a tavern at midday, and tried to pick up small time bounties.

"Uh… I… that is to say...Umm…"

The woman started spluttering incoherently after that. Apparently she was used to the rough treatment most women got around here, a slap on the ass and a groping from a complete stranger, not Damien's sincere talk of an afternoon off.

Seeing her distress Damien did what came naturally to him, he made up her mind.

"Why don't you see if can't get the afternoon off. After all it is the busiest part of the trading season. Few will stop by here and even fewer will stay for any length of time."

As if that wasn't enough about that time the only other patron in the bar left, leaving a few coin behind. At least around here some were nice enough to tip good service.

"Oi! Melina, get back to the front!"

A gruff voice came form what Damien knew to be the kitchen area. Ah the girl's doting father, a one Bravik. Damien silently cursed is luck, the girl would not go against her father.

"I'd love to… but it seems I have some things to get done… sorry Damien."

The girl seemed genuinely dejected.

Sighing to himself Damien gave her a soft wave as she walked away, and as soon as her back was to him he dropped the mask and sat back against his chair, bringing his cloak up to hide his face.

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Four hours later saw no information coming his way. Damien was silently fuming that he was correct for once. It was the busiest time of the year in Ner'mern and he was still sitting alone in the White Breasted Stallion.

"Oh, you're still here."

Came the surprised voice of Melina. A simple nod answered her question.

She smiled sweetly and went off to work on more of the chores she had finally found time to do. Damien had no idea what those might be, he suspected strongly that it involved cleaning some store room that had a rat the size of a dog in the one corner. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard a startled scream from the back room followed by a very disheveled looking Melina come running through the kitchen door.

Damien couldn't help but cock his head back and roar with laughter as a rather plump looking rat chased right behind her. The thing was obviously protecting it's food stash, whatever that may entail.

As Damien started to regain his composure the girl had managed to cover most of the rather large bar area's distance and come leaping at Damien. The blonde haired rouge went bugged eyed as a mess of crimson and black clothing landed on him followed by a resounding cry of "RAT!"

Damien felt the wind leave his lungs as the dark haired girl slammed into him. The chair rocked back sharply and fell. Damien and Melina went crashing to the ground.

As Damien tried to get up and clear his head a rather mean looking rat jumped at the two of them. Damien reacted on instinct and rolled back wards, his arms wrapping around Melina to hold her as he performed the acrobatic maneuver.

He came up on his feet carrying Melina bridal style. The girl would probably have been blushing furiously had it not been for the fact that a giant rat was chasing her. Damien started back peddling, trying to avoid a bite from a probably diseased rat that had just caused him pain. He grumbled about over zealous rats and scared girls in his head a moment before he decided to end the whole mess.

His right arm let Melina's legs go, and even as she fell Damien lifted her a bit higher with his left arm. The action caused the girl to squeak as he tightened his grip on her lower back and side. His right hand found the hilt of his rapier and as he drew he aimed for the rat's beady little eyes. The rat, to it's credit, registered shock on it's features, at least Damien thought it was shock, shortly before the blade slashed across it's field of vision.

The hiss of pain that followed made Damien cringe, he hated rats. Be it small or large the things just bugged him to no end.

Even as Damien stopped backpedaling, readying the blade in his hand, the rat fell back. Without it's vision it became disoriented to the world as it tried to compensate for lost sight with heightened smell and touch. All was for not though as Damien's speed guided the blade right through the front of the thing's forehead and into it's brain. A sickening crunch could be heard and Melina, obviously not used to the sight, screamed again.

While screaming at the sight wouldn't really bother Damien, it was a fact that loud noises next to one's incredibly fine tuned sense of hearing was painful, even detrimental to the hours of training one put in for such a thing. So, as expected, Damien fell to the ground clutching his left ear from the ringing sound that now existed there.

As he lost his grip on the blade the rat tumbled backwards and dragged the blade along, causing a table to flip in the process. The noise of course brought Bravik out of the kitchen. As Damien got up brushing himself off Melina started apologizing.

"Oh Damien I'm so sorry! I didn't even think I just.."

Then it hit her exactly what she had done and she blushed five shades of red.

"SorryDamienIhavetogocleanupabitmorebye!"

She blurted out in one go. She darted away and was in the kitchen with a speed that surprised both Damien and Bravik. Damien, finally looking at Bravik, let out a cackle of laughter at the chef's appearance.

I his left hand one would find the lid to a copper pot, acting as a shield. In his right was a mean looking… spoon, that Damien noticed was covered in some sort of white sauce. He was wearing his typical grey cooking shirt and beige trousers. To top it all off he looked as if he'd been to close when lighting a fire, which in all likelihood could have happened. The whole sight just made the blonde boy laugh.

"Oi, brat, what in the nine hells is so funny?!"

Damien shook his head repeatedly, still chuckling a bit.

"Nothing Bravik, nothing."

Damien, finally containing himself set about cleaning up the mess he had made. Bravik, muttering something about stupid teenagers, walked back into the kitchen to get Melina to help Damien clean up.

Tilting his head to the side to try and work out a kink from his rough landing Damien proceeded to rip his rapier from the rat's face and then clean the blade on it's matted fur. Grabbing the bleeding carcass he began to drag it out the front door, when he heard an 'eep' from behind him. Damien turned to see Melina with a mop and a bucket of water. Damien had left a good trail of blood from the fight to the door.

Shrugging and giving Melina a look that said 'This is all your fault' he finished removing the body from the bar. Dragging it around the corner he dumped it into a gutter and wiped his hands together. He felt a sickening slurp emanate from between his palms and so he turned and proceeded over to a dock. Reaching into the clear salt water he wiped his hands free of the tainted blood.

Checking himself over for any wounds he walked back into the bar to see most of the floor clean and the table righted once more. Damien's chair back was broken in two places and would need to be replaced. Sighing he grabbed the chair and righted it.

Melina finished mopping and moved to take the water outside. Damien halted her with a raised hand and grabbed the dirty water form her. She smiled warmly at him as he walked back into the late afternoon sun. Dumping the water down the gutter as well he walked back in to find the place spotless.

"Fucking rats."

The rouge muttered before grabbing a new chair. Plopping back down in his usual spot he saw Melina come out with his wine and a new glass.

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By the time the night time rush got to the Stallion most of it's frequent patrons were well on their way to inebriation, with the exception of one, Damien. Over the past six hours he had only had three glasses of red wine, while within minutes of walking in the door ninety percent of the wharf workers were on their third ale or some other heavy drink. Damien could only grin at his luck, most of them seemed to be in a talkative mood today.

So began a night's effort and soon Damien was gathering information left and right. Most of it was trivial gossip from the docks about this ship holding some extra goods or someone thinking that ship was smuggling something. All in all Damien found out nothing on his real targets.

His targets today happened to pair affectionately known as the Demon Brothers. Now they weren't actually demons, such things were merely folklore. They weren't even actually brothers from all Damien had found out. Apparently they took their names from some eastern pair that were legend among their kind. Sighing silently at his defeat Damien was about to signal Melina to come grab his empty goblet and give her a healthy tip when he felt someone behind him. Now in a crowded bar this probably wasn't unusual, except that Damien could hear a sword bounce of his chair, signaling it was one of several things. One, it was a guard who just so happened to carry his weapon while off duty. Two, it was someone like him, a bounty hunter or maybe just some monster hunter here to gather information and relax.

However, option three was confirmed when Damien look over his shoulder and saw one of the two targets. The man, about six foot even with a great sword strapped across his back, was making his way to the counter.

Damien smiled to himself once again, this was going to be a fruitful night.

Silently getting up Damien grabbed his goblet and headed up to the counter, following in the large man's wake. He was easily able to cut through the crowd of people and lean against the counter, his arms crossed in front of him, as he got next to his target. The 'demon' next to him eyed him a moment before he seemed to brush Damien off.

"Oi wench!"

The 'demon' yelled at Melina. Melina, shrugging off the petty insult at her profession, walked over and looked the man in the eyes.

"Yes sir?"

She said in an almost over sweet voice, obviously she didn't like the name.

"Your largest tankard of ale!"

Melina quickly hurried off to grab the low cost alcohol. How people ever got the taste of that stuff Damien would never know. He preferred the more… refined taste that a good red grape wine could offer. Aged perfectly so that it tasted sweet and just a hint of bitterness behind it. Damien could live off the stuff if his body would allow it!

As his thoughts on his favorite drink carried on Melina came back and set the large drink on the table. Damien just blinked at the thing. It was easily a two pint drink.

"Ah never seen a real drink before aye boy?"

The six foot tall man said, holding up the massive… well Damien would call it a barrel.

"Oh, no, I have. Just didn't know anyone could drink that much in one go…"

Damien feigned in awe. He looked like the child who had just met his lifelong hero. The man took the bait and grinned. Soon the drink was gone, two pints, just gone like they were nothing. Damien widened his eyes. That had to hurt something, anything, was the human stomach even that big?!

"Ahhh! That hit's the spot every time! Oi, wench, another!"

Damien once more bluffed his way into the man's trust.

"Wow… I wish I could do that…"

The man gave Damien a sidelong glance and smirked a bit.

"Well then maybe you should get to drinking instead of admiring mine."

Damien nodded dumbly and slipped off into the crowd. Now that his cover was set up he slipped his hood up to hide his face and took up his seat once more. He watch the hilt of the great sword move through the crowd towards a table. The targeted man sat down amongst three others and began to resume his drinking.

Damien smiled under his hood and sipped his wine. Now is was a waiting game as Damien watched both eh front door and the man. When Kyte showed up they would get their chance. Yes, this man would easily bring them a month's worth of pay. All he had to do was die like a good little bounty.

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**Preview of Chapter two!**

Damien slowly slid the rapier out of the leather scabbard at his side. His eyes flickered to the three men now facing him. The bed behind him was pressing against the back of his legs. He was trapped to put it simply.

He smirked as he lowered his head, his thick bangs hiding his eyes as an almost evil intent seemed to emanate from him. The blade reflected off the light form the hallway behind the three men, their forms outlined perfectly. He could almost see each and every kink the armor bore, dozen of entry points for his thin blade.

"You made a big mistake boy."

The man in the middle growled out.

"Oh.. I don't…"

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A/N: So there's chapter one. Hope you enjoyed. Please review, this is my first story and I could really use any help offered.


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